THE first in a new generation of massive military aircraft will end its maiden flight on the Fylde Coast later this month.

The new Nimrod MRA4 will arrive at BAE Systems Warton and will be based at the site for its initial flight testing.

A historic flight will take the new aircraft from Woodford, near Manchester, where it is currently being put together.

Around half of the 1,250 strong BAE Systems Nimrod team are based at Warton, including 70 RAF and Defence Procurement Agency staff seconded to the programme.

Joe Harland, Nimrod MRA4 managing director, said: "This is an amazingly complex and challenging programme, and the fact that we are approaching first flight speaks volumes both for the skills, experience and sheer determination of our employees, as well as for the close working relationship we have established with our customer, the Defence Procurement Agency. We should also recognise that this will be another aviation 'first' for the North West."

Nimrods have been in active service with the RAF for more than 25 years and hit the headlines earlier this year for its role in the mid-Atlantic rescue of a group of rowers attempting to break the record for a crossing from Canada to the UK.

The plane's chief test pilot, John Turner, said: "I am greatly looking forward to piloting the aircraft on its very first flight, and then to putting it through its paces in the months ahead."

Steve Fogg, director for Nimrod development added: "The Nimrod MRA4 represents a technological step change from the MR2 it is set to replace in 2009, able, for example, to gather, process and display up to 20 times more data than the current in-service aircraft.

"The MRA4 has a typical crew of 10, and a range of around 6,000 miles, sufficient to fly from the UK to Buenos Aires or Los Angeles, for example, without refuelling. Equally important, unrefuelled it can stay on search for twice as long as an MR2 during a search and rescue mission."

Two more MR4 aircraft are expected to arrive in Warton later this year and test flights are expected to continue from Warton until 2006/2007.

A fleet of around 12 aircraft is expected, though no decision on where they are to be built has yet been made.